NRW Transport Minister Hendrik Wüst informs himself about emission-free drives for public transport at Kiepe Electric

This week Hendrik Wüst, the Transport Minister of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, visits companies within the scope of the mobility week to discuss trendsetting concepts that save resources and reduce emissions.

Transport Minister Hendrik Wüst: “Mobility and innovative drive
systems are important subjects in the coalition agreement. I’ll push
both subjects in the coming years. We need novel and powerful
technologies to achieve the desired changes on the transport field.
Kiepe Electric is a pioneer in the field of environmentally friendly
electric mobility.” The Düsseldorf company Kiepe Electric GmbH, which
belongs to the Knorr-Bremse group, offers transport operators
electrical equipment for tramcars as well as e.g. innovative,
field-tested drive system solutions for the electricification of bus
fleets in medium-sized and big cities, which can be realised promptly
and make electric buses just as reliable as diesel-powered buses.

At present, especially the so-called In Motion Charging (IMC®)
technology is demanded. The idea is that the batteries of the electric
buses are charged when the buses drive under the overhead contact line,
i.e. on the so-called IMC road, so that they can drive up to 25 km
in the battery mode in line sections without overhead contact line. The
NRW state already supports the development of this technology in its
“E-Bus 2020: In Motion Charging” project together with the Dutch
province of Gelderland within the scope of the INTERREG cross-border
cooperation. Solingen intends to replace 20 diesel-powered buses by IMC
battery buses by 2020 so that 66 % of all its buses will be
electric buses. Already today Solingen is the trend-setter in Germany
as its public transport company already operates 50 trolleybuses, which
make up Germany’s biggest fleet of electric buses. Overhead contact
lines can also be used as the backbone of a smart grid to distribute
direct current in the city, e.g. for the charging of electric cars and
bicycles. In this way the IMC infrastructure can be utilised
intensively day and night. In cities with metro or tramway networks IMC
buses complement the electric mobility networks as they can use their
substations. There is great development potential in NRW as twelve (of
altogher 68 German) cities have overhead contact lines and
substations.

The corporate headquarters of Knorr-Bremse in Munich is pleased
about the exchange of information with the politicians. “We are very
happy that Minister Wüst informed himself about the possibilities of
alternative drive systems today. In the United States we are already an
established provider of emission-free drives for utility vehicles.
Right from the beginning our American customers knew that this modern
IMC technology was needed to relieve the burden on the environment.
German customers are also very interested, but there are still
thresholds by the introduction, particularly in cities without overhead
contact lines. Here we need political support for clean and reliable
public transport”, says Dr. Peter Radina, CEO of Knorr-Bremse Systeme
für Schienenfahrzeuge GmbH. Kiepe Electric has extensive project
experience with the introduction of new IMC networks and with the
extension of existing trolleybus networks. Today about 600 IMC battery
buses with the reliable electrical equipment from Kiepe Electric are
operated around the world.

Knorr-Bremse is a leading manufacturer of braking
systems and supplier of additional sub-systems for rail and commercial
vehicles, with sales totaling approximately EUR 5.5 billion in 2016.
Some 25,000 employees develop, manufacture, and service braking,
entrance, control, and energy supply systems, HVAC and driver
assistance systems, as well as powertrain-related solutions. As a
technology leader, through its products the company has been making a
decisive contribution to greater safety by road and rail since 1905.
Every day, more than one billion people around the world put their
trust in systems made by Knorr-Bremse.

Knorr-Bremse subsidiary Kiepe Electric, based in
Düsseldorf, Germany, is a globally active supplier of electrical
systems to the leading rail vehicle and bus manufacturers. The company
offers efficient solutions and ecologically sustainable concepts for
low-emission public transportation with eco-friendly electrical
equipment for light rail vehicles, metros and regional rail networks,
as well as for battery, trolley and In Motion Charging (IMC) buses.